The Bible Archive

As my parents got older they started putting away the salt from the table. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the taste it’s that they realized that too much of it was not good for them. They were realizing it was coming out all the time and that their blood pressure was steadily rising. But what I don’t think they noticed is that when they put it away they would slowly, imperceptibly miss it—and even need it back in their bodies. The rise of Calvinism and Charismatic Continuism seems to be doing the same thing.

Someone, either Billy Graham or John MacArthur (can’t remember which) said that “we’ve all milked from the Plymouth Brethren Cow”. Too often people raise the banner of the Plymouth Brethren as a byword to be hissed at because of the damage that has been or is being done (ie: Aleister Crowly, Brian Mclaren, pop-Left-Behindism, etc.). Anyway, I wanted to underline the rich culture found in the Brethren Movement and the way it has benefited the corporate Body of Christ to try to regain some balance. The Brethren Movement was sort of like the Emergents, it wasn’t defined by any denomination and it spread from the ground up. But in stark contrast, the Plymouth Brethren was a Back to the Gospel movement focused on the truth of the Gospel by studying the Bible, adherence to the Lord’s Supper, and preaching the Word to as many as possible. The Movement in English speaking countries has greatly diminished although places like India have seen tremendous growth.

What I’ll do for these features is quote Wikipedia or something similar and link to some good reading, either about them or by them..

Today’s feature: F.F.Bruce. Yeah, He was one of us.

Enjoy the Christian Carnival at Thinking Christian.

Firefox is fast, plays nicely with the web, and is decent with your computer resources. The new version ( Firefox 3) is even better, offering a ton of stuff like an address bar that knows what you’re thinking (or so it seems like it sometimes). But that’s not why Firefox is probably the best browser ever: the perks are in the add-ons.

Last night at chapel, I was listening to the brother expound on the resurrection of Christ and the appearance to Mary. The preaching sparked a thought that I had had in the past (and of course, which has been discussed to death in commentaries) but I wanted to put down some views on paper. Why did Christ tell Mary not to touch Him when later on in John 20 He’s telling Thomas to touch Him?

She could see the threatening glow gathering above the flat horizon in the East. The Hammer was rising.

Everyone else in the village had hidden themselves away- just as The Boundaries stipulated. The young mother was trying, but raising two young children alone was not easy, and getting them to move without violating the writings seemed impossible. They were always in danger of transgressing, and so, often in danger of dying. Every morning’s Heatrise was one of those times.

“Come on. Come on… but don’t hurry. Don’t….,” her voice grew loud in exasperation, but she caught herself and glanced around. Little children wanted to run. It seemed a perverse joke to give them desires that would only kill them.

Patton wasn’t using the following so much as an argument but as a retelling of his own theological journey. What’s interesting about the story is that it offered several reasons of how people Know what they Know. I mean, Unconditional Election wasn’t proved point by point for Michael (at least not according to that post) but it was illustrated in a very compelling manner. Likewise, at twelve his mind was influenced by a specific interpretation by his mother, so psychologically speaking you can see where something like that would become important.

But I did want to post a counter illustration because the one Boice used (in Michael’s post) wound up being one of those stories that preachers (and professors) love to use that doesn’t prove anything. It’s an appeal to emotion by using unbalanced data and an unserviceable hypothetical.

Here’s my version based heavily on Boice’s:

The Christian Carnival is up at Brain Cramps for God. I didn’t submit anything because I was fighting Trojans.

by Tim Keller & David Powlison (HT: Justin Taylor via Jollyblogger)

One obvious genius of the internet is that it’s “viral.” Information explodes to the whole world. The old neighborhood grapevine and the postal service seem like ox-carts in a speed-of-light universe. (Do twenty-somethings even know what those antiquities once were? In the old days, people had to talk to each other or stick a stamp on an envelope.) Instantaneous transmission produces some wonderfully good things. Truth, like joy, is infectious. A great idea feeds into a million inboxes. But it also produces some disastrous evils. Lies, rumors, and disinformation travel just as far and just as fast.

Back in Junior High, I’d go to school wearing my khaki pants. Folk would snort behind open hands. Eyes would laugh. Mouths would spew names. After all, who wore khakis in the 80’s? That was the time of two tone denim jeans, of acid wash and of neon.

Stupidly enough (and probably why I got chased a lot), in my annoyance, I sometimes spoke back.

So far, I’ve assumed certain things: (1) the Church is made up of People, (2) The Church’s existence is based on historical prerequisites (3) The Church’s leadership is divine and an unmentioned 4th. I covered some entailments of these by pointing out that the Church’s purpose is linked with the work of God, the Holy Spirit, living in The Church. With such underpinnings in place one wonders what the local expression of the Universe Church might look like. I mean, is it merely Two or Three non-speaking Christians at the local bodega/grocery store? Is it maybe a married Christian couple taking a nap? There are some things, both positive and negative that demarcates the boundary lines of a local expression of The Church Universal: what are they?

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine in church in regards to the Chronology of the passion narrative: specifically when the Lord’s Supper occurred in light of John’s seemingly odd chronology (cf. John 19 where Christ’s crucifixion is said to be happening on the Day of Preparation for the Passover).

I know. Utterly surprising. But really, my site has been in a constant state of red alert for the last year, being the victim of several sql injections into my database with the wp-stats trojan, which is easily blocked by any malware detection tool on a computer but unfortunately, renders my site flagged by google. This means that anytime folk come to visit my site (especially on Firefox) they see a big sign (on Firefox 3 it’s huge and red) warning them that my site is a supporter of viruses.

So, Elayna, how old are you?
three.

How old is mommy?
I don’t know.

God’s intention, His heart’s desire is:
…easy to find (John 7:17)
…for my joy to be made full by abiding in Him (John 15:4-12)
…salvation of people…salvation of me (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
…my sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4)
…for me to do right, all the time, to shut the mouths around me. (1 Peter 2)
…for me to submit (1 Peter 2)
…for me to suffer (Philippians 1:29, chapter 2)
…our churches overflowing with the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), a holy temple